Apple MacBook Air
11 FEB 2008
Launch price
from £1,200
Stuff says
Beautiful, built to last and blisteringly fast, but too expensive considering the lack of connections and its rivals' ever-growing features lists
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Ever since a certain Apple CEO pulled a silver blade called the MacBook Air from a manila envelope, we've been gagging to get it into our test room. This was initially, we confess, purely down to gadget lust.
But once we'd digested its specs list, a more pressing question arose: is this dangerously alluring (and dangerously expensive) slab of tech really sexy enough to convince us to live with only one USB port and no optical drive at all? It's time to find out.
Bulletproof build
Out of the envelope the Air really is thinner than a Sony Vaio laptop, just as Steve Jobs promised. But it's also wider than a Vaio, and deeper, and it's hardly the mega-lightweight A4 piece of paper you might have expected. But it's definitely as pretty as you've been imagining.
The Air's keyboard is indeed full-size and gloriously backlit, while the 13.3in, 1280x800 LED-lit screen is dazzling and rock-solid. And the Air isn't made out of silver plastic pretending to be metal. It's metal. Examine our sample and you'll see teeth marks where we tested it. You could sit on it in the park to stop your trousers getting wet. It's practically bulletproof.
Speed demon
Fire it up though and yep, it's a Mac alright. Starting OS X Leopard is quick– about 30 seconds from 0-to-internet on our solid-state drive model. That's longer than some Vista machines take to come out of sleep mode.
Getting around with the massive touchpad and two- or three-finger gesture system feels just right. Perfect, even. The Air's like the iPhone – simply holding and using it is half the fun.